Candy haircolors have been a staple in alternative fashion since it began. Originally something that shocked onlookers, it’s now quite common to encounter unnaturally hued tresses. It’s no secret these colors take some serious maintenance, as someone who’s dabbled in the pallet of candy colors my bathroom cupboard is stocked like a chemistry set! Not to mention the unfortunate effects of bleach/coloring on hair. Sometimes you want to opt out of the commitment of candy colors, or just want a change for a day to match your favorite outfit.

One fun and hair-harmless solution to this quandary is HAIR CHALK! In art school we used to temporarily streak our hair with drawing pastels, and the hair chalk available now isn’t too far off of those (maybe formulated more appropriately for hair).

You can get hair chalks online in singles or in packages of assorted colors. The set we used for this tutorial are from Urban Outfitters and were $14. The set comes with 32 little chalks in a pretty lame looking box. It even comes with brown and black.

Originally purchased for some upcoming photoshoots I decided to test out the chalks on my own hair first. The results are super fun and using these was very easy! Here’s how I went from “plain” ginger with black bangs to mottled multi-colored tresses in about 5-10 minutes.

I used the chalks directly on my dry hair. I’d washed it the day before, but honestly these chalks are so gentle I wouldn’t worry about doing them the same day as a wash. My hair is colored (obviously) so it’s more porous than “virgin” hair, and they rinsed out completely the next time I washed my hair.

Just take a piece of hair and pull it taut, then rub the chalk in a downwards motion (upwards sort of teases the hair) a few times. The more you rub onto the hair the darker and more vibrant the color result will be.

These chalks can be layered and blended into one another. I went a bit crazy and tested out all the bright colors I wanted to- purples, blues, greens, yellows, reds, pinks! The end result is sort of a pretty mis-mash of colors. You can feel the chalk in the hair if you touch it, it feels similar to when you have loads of product in.

I then lightly hair-sprayed the colored parts (aerosol hair spray, I’m sure any sort would work). My hands were a MESS, but the color came off with water and a bit of soap with no staining or residue.

The colors lasted all day! I think if it had been raining they would have run but it wasn’t. I am pretty pleased with these, the effects are vibrant and the possibilities for their use are endless. It’s a great way to add some fun colors to your hair for the day or to test out potential dye shades before taking the plunge.

🙂

-Taeden